'Ohio Means Jobs' offers helping hands to those looking for work

Port Clinton resident Gilbert Carrisales, a U.S. Navy veteran, is looking to get working again after a successful kidney transplant.(Photo: Jon Stinchcomb/News Herald)

PORT CLINTON - Even deep into the offseason for a region with an economy dependent on tourism, there are hundreds of jobs available in Ottawa County right now.

Within a 10-mile radius of Port Clinton, there are nearly 1,000 job postings that those looking for work could apply for today on OhioMeansJobs.com.

The website, operated by Ohio’s Office of Workforce Development, offers a job matching system for those looking for work as well as employers looking to fill open positions, along with a plethora of other useful tools for both.

Locally, the Ottawa County Department of Job and Family Services also operates an OhioMeansJobs Center locating in their offices at 8043, W. Ohio 163, Oak Harbor.

There, employment specialists will work with job seekers one-on-one to walk them through how to best utilize the website, help with writing or updating resumes, the application process, even providing practice interviews and much more.

“They help people navigate through what kind of questions they should be asking and what kind of information they should be looking for to make informed decisions about career choices,” said Stephanie Kowal, director of the department.

Things like finding out where are certain kinds of job opportunities are, what the wages are like in certain fields and how to do career research can all be explored with OhioMeansJobs.

This year, Ottawa County is bringing that kind of one-on-one help for job seekers closer to home for area communities.

“Recognizing how travel can be an obstacle for folks with how long the county is, we’re working with the libraries this year,” Kowal said.

In February, an OhioMeansJobs employment specialist will be available to offer the same free services as the center at local libraries throughout Ottawa County, including Ida Rupp in Port Clinton, Oak Harbor Public Library, Harris-Elmore Public Library and their Genoa Branch Library.

For Port Clinton resident Gilbert Carrisales, a 73-year-old veteran of the U.S. Navy, meeting the specialist at Ida Rupp on Friday provided an opportunity to receive help updating his resume and learn more about OhioMeansJobs.com.

Carrisales is looking to get back into the workforce after being out of work for four years for medical reasons. Prior to that, Carrisales worked fulltime as an international sales consultant and tester for aftermarket catalytic converters.

While working abroad in Mexico, Carrisales caught an ear infection. The infection spread and, eventually, drainage reached his lungs. The next thing he knew, Carrisales said, he had full-blown pneumonia.

Pneumonia led to kidney complications and Carrisales was unable to go back to work because he had to start dialysis around 2014. Carrisales was on dialysis for three and a half years until this past November when he was finally able to get a kidney transplant, he said.

“The minute they told me ‘You’re good to go. You can start meeting people, getting out,’ I started sending out resumes,” Carrisales said. “In December I started looking for something more permanent to get me out of the house. I was never used to just sitting at home.”

Carrisales has plenty of qualifications. In addition to his past military and work experience, he speaks four languages, primarily English and Spanish, but also German and French.

But being overqualified can present issues as well.

“My qualifications are beyond what a lot of people want,” he said. “In fact, I’ve been in interviews where I’m told, ‘You just have too many qualifications.’ And when they ask me how much I made, they feel that they can’t match that.”

But Carrisales said he understands that he is not going to be making what he used to. Instead, he is just looking for something supplemental to help with bills.

“At my age, starting at $15 an hour isn’t bad,” he said. “The trouble I see now is a lot of people who look at the resume — the minute they see your age, they want somebody younger that’s going to stay there. But they don’t realize, people like me are actually more inclined to stay on the job for a longer period of time than a younger guy. Younger people tend to jump job to job.”